Haunted Castle Rag

Another ragtime piece from me.  This one I'd really love to hear any thoughts on; I'm not really sure about a few passages and transitions and I'm trying to decide whether to revise it.  Are there moments that sound awkward (in a bad way) to you?

Hey @Aiwendil!

Very nice and idiosyncratic rag!  It does sound exactly like a haunted castle.  I know that sometimes the titles of rags don't really have any distinguishing similarity to the actual music.  But not so with this piece - I could even imagine it being played on the castle's church organ!  Never thought that a rag would work well on a church organ.  I think it would make it more creepy and characteristic.

Regarding any awkward moments, perhaps you thought that measure 60 is too abrupt?  To me it sounds find to go from C major back to A minor.  For me, the middle section starting at measure 85 is perhaps too long and the retransition back to the main theme is a bit haphazard.  Originally in the 1st ending to that section you end on a D minor chord, but the 2nd ending suddenly injects a F7 chord in place of the D minor (and directly after an A7).  Perhaps you could make the 2nd ending include two measures instead of just one and replace the C# in the A chord with a C natural to more clearly prepare the listener to the retransition to A minor and recontextualizing that A chord as a pre-dominant (in essence with the same function as the D minor would have had in its place if the destination was A).  That's my take on that.  Btw - great intro and great conclusion!  Definitely a strong piece here.  Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the comments!  Yeah, the retransition from D minor to A minor is one of the spots I was concerned about.  I had originally written it with a B flat 7 instead of an F7 in the second ending.  So, the A7 resolving by deceptive cadence to a B flat, which then gets reinterpreted as a Neapolitan chord to lead to the dominant in A minor.  But the modulation sounded too quick and unconvincing to me, so I tried to the F7 (functioning as a German sixth) instead, but I worry that the logic of the A7 -> F7 is weak.  I've listened to it a bunch and go back and forth on whether I think it works.  I may try tinkering with it.  Thanks for the suggestions!